There’s a pub in Edinburgh’s Royal Mile that’s offering free pints to customers when Scotland score a try in the Six Nations. I don’t think there’s a catch but, then, given the abysmal performances of the national side in their first two matches against Ireland and England, there doesn’t need to be. A mere two penalties in the first and a great big zero in the second hasn’t cost that landlord a penny so far. But his money would be pretty safe, too, if he offered up a free pint for every time one of Alex Salmond’s “promises” turned out to be correct.

In the parallel universe inhabited by the First Minister of Scotland and his separatist supporters, their campaign to break up Britain is sailing towards victory. The reality, however, is somewhat different. On Sunday, José Manuel Barroso, the president of the European Commission, fired what was but the latest in a series of well-aimed torpedoes at the SNP’s attempt to win September’s referendum on Scottish independence.

He said that it would be “difficult, if not impossible” for a separate Scotland to join the EU, pointing out that the acquiescence of all 28 members would be required; a solitary veto would be enough to block entry.

His words, on The Andrew Marr Show, are a particularly bitter pill for the Nats to swallow, as “Scotland in Europe” has long been a key plank in the separatists’ manifesto. They have preached that belonging to the European Union was the security blanket in which many voters could take comfort if they voted to leave the three-century-old union with England, Wales and, now, Northern Ireland.

And it is his policy on Europe on which Mr Salmond has continually stumbled. Only five years ago he said he favoured joining the euro, describing sterling as a “millstone” around Scotland’s neck. Then he said that Scotland wouldn’t have to apply to join the club as it could merely ascend straight to the top table in Brussels because, as a constituent part of the UK, it had always been a member. That policy had to be abandoned in the face of reality checks from everyone who’s anyone in the EU, with Mr Barroso again in the van. Then the SNP claimed that they would, after all, apply but that they’d be fast-tracked, with negotiations completed in double-quick time, certainly within 18 months of a Yes vote.

That timetable was shot down in flames by, for one, José García-Margallo, the Spanish foreign minister, who said there was no chance of such a special deal for Scotland, which would have to negotiate all 35 chapters of the EU treaty and then have the application approved by the parliaments of all 28 member states, as well as their governments.

However, while Spain’s lack of enthusiasm for Scotland’s EU entry – because of its problems with Catalonia and the Basque country – is well known, the EU president’s words came as a shock to the nationalists. Mr Barroso’s words followed the triple-whammy, as it’s been termed, from the three economic spokesmen of the Westminster parties – one, or perhaps two, of which will form the next British government after 2015’s general election. Chancellor George Osborne, his shadow Ed Balls, and Osborne’s deputy Danny Alexander, have all declared that they will not permit an independent Scotland to share the pound in a sterling currency union with England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

But just as Mr Salmond dismissed those three for indulging in “bluff, bluster and bullying” over sterling, the best the nationalists could come up with yesterday in response to the head of the EU was that he was being “preposterous”.

Sound bites of this nature have become the stock-in-trade of the SNP leader, with his speech in Aberdeen yesterday littered with well-worn smart-Alex phrases about how those opposed to him had been indulging in, variously, “a destructive campaign” and were “undermining the democratic process”, “dictating from on high” and indulging in “caricatures”.

Some of his accusations will strike a chord with Scots and may see a short-term increase in the poll showings for the Yes vote. But this had been factored in by the Unionist camp, who are confident that in the medium term most voters north of the border will see that without a currency union and with, according to Mr Barroso, little likelihood of EU membership, Mr Salmond has no coherent economic policy to offer for an independent Scotland.

Ever the gambler, Mr Salmond is betting on Westminster backing down on currency union if there’s a Yes vote. But it’s a gamble that threatens Scotland’s economic future.

As if to prove how bizarre his claims are becoming, Mr Salmond included a promise that “his” independent Scotland would never regard England, Wales and Northern Ireland as “foreign”. That’s rich, indeed, coming from a man who plans to continue to charge students from those three up to £36,000 for university tuition at Scottish universities, while those from France, Spain, Italy, Germany, the Republic of Ireland, and other EU countries would continue to study for free.

Why would those Brits want to share their currency – and the risks such an arrangement would bring – with the government of a country that discriminates against their kids like that?

And if the whole emphasis of the separatists’ campaign has not always been to make Scotland “foreign” from the rest of the UK, what’s it been about?

My son, daughter and grandson, as well as my in-laws, live in England. No matter what he says, Alex Salmond plans to make us all foreigners to each other.